High Oil Consumption

Not sure if you have grounds, but it has been said that if a problem was reported to the Dealer a couple of times prior to end of warranty then the problem finally shows it's axx after, that Toyota sometimes handles things. Your warnings going up hill and during turns is consistent with low oil pressure or quantity, but not exclusively. You would have to show documentation of the complaints/results and oil change history from day one to now with the Dealer and probably photo document the underside and other related areas of the car to even begin a case. Don't know if that helps any, but it's something to look into. Sorry to here of about it.

 

you certainly waited a long time to make your first post! anyways, i think you might be at the mercy of the dealer and how far they're willing to help you. another way is call toyota and see what they can do.

 

You have obviously owned the car for several years. What did the oil dipstick say? What was the level of the oil on the dipstick when you checked it? If it used/burned a lot of oil... then I would assume that it always showed "low" when you pulled the dipstick and this would have been your very first clue?

Please don't say that you drove a car for 100,000 miles and never checked the oil

 

Similar issue here:

What to do to slow down oil burn? 2010 Prius - Bob Is The Oil Guy


iPhone ?

 

Something here isn't making sense to me.
You lurked for FOUR years without making a single post. THEN.... You bought a G3 in 2010, and you cranked out around 100K miles.....or about 33,333.333333333333333(est) miles every year for three years.
Sometime before year #2...you say that you started to get the "dirty look" triangle from your car whenever you "went up a hill or around a corner" and the dealer never figured it out.

60,000 more miles go by.
Now......suddenly.....your car is glugging a quart of oil every thousand miles????
It would seem that in addition to never checking in here at PC....you never checked your oil either!
You have a few options. Either you can sell this car to some unsuspecting sap for some of what you owe on it. You might get lucky and prospective new owner might not have the car thoroughly checked out before you snatch the check and run like hell.
BTW....If your story is true, it validates my reason for never buying used cars.
-or-
You can trade it in (I would suggest another dealership) on another car to mistreat.
-or-
You can sink 5K into this one, and drive if for another three years.
-or-
You can buy a case of oil and start monitoring your consumption. Frankly.....I'd buy 2 quarts of the OEM oil and self-medicate for 2k miles.
Get somebody to show you how to check the oil level in your motor or read about it in the MOM, or see if YouTube has a video.
If the motor really is going through one quart every 1k miles, then here's how the math works out:
Burn THE CHEAPEST 5w30 oil you're comfortable with (Castrol has a synthetic blend.) It doesn't have to be the Gucci 0w20 stuff any more since you've already wrecked your motor. I picked 5w30 since it's a little thicker than the silly 0h-dubbaya stuff.
You might go 1,200 miles per quart on that!
Experiment.
See how it runs with different flavors of oil.
Where have you been getting your oil changed before now?
It might not have 0w-whatever in it right now if you went to Gyppie-Lube.
Buying oil @ $5USD a quart for 100,000 more miles is still a helluva lot cheaper than getting shanked by the dealer for the $5,000 repair.
Wait until the motor sucks a valve or the cat gets plugged up before you sink any more money into the car.
You're probably monitoring your mileage about as assiduously as your oil level, but start doing that too. You might notice a sharp decrease in MPG riiiiiiight before the motor goes Tango-Uniform.


Your call.
Good Luck

 

I always give the benefit of the doubt to a Pilot's write-up on first contact, however initial read was a catastrophic failure of the left seat actuator. If this is the case, then priusboy1 has learned a valuable lesson toward becoming priusman1.

 

I haven't heard of anyone with an oil guzzling Prius before. As others have said if you intend to keep this car you must start checking the oil yourself, bring it up the the full mark and see how many miles it really takes to use one quart.

Have you looked under the car to see if it is leaking out, check for leaks with the car running as well as when it is turned off.

Also be careful of this dealer you have been seeing, they should have found this problem a long time ago. Maybe they just waited until the warranty was up to tell you. As posted above if the problem was documented before the warranty ran out you may still get them to cover it.

Good luck, you're going to need it.

 

Well, I'll put my two-cents worth in, since I'm having basically the same problem.

I use my vehicle in my courier business, and of course, I drive quite a few miles. I bought my 2010 Prius new as well (October 2010), and had no problems until last August at approx. 155K. Started sucking oil, but not leaking on driveway (still). Gas mileage is down about 7 mpg. (Was at 50-51, now 43-44). About 650 miles per quart (maybe 700) at last check. Dealership not sure what is wrong, and tearing it apart would be the only way to diagnose (they did a bore-scope (I think that's what they called it) check, and found nothing. They changed the oil from synthetic oW-20 to regular 5W-20. Still the same. Thoughts?

 

BTW - I'm at 185K now.

 

Did anything else change with the MPG? is it a summer MPG vs winter MPG?

 

650 miles per quart! Wow! Only thing I can think of is maybe a stuck piston ring(s) or worn piston rings. Was a compression test done on it? Has it been maintained properly with 0w-20 since new?

 

Something's not right about this. OP said the dealer told him ICE is burning qt of oil every 1,000 miles. He would know that if he was checking the oil himself, and then report the excessive consumption to the dealer. Me thinks he doesn't even pop the hood?

 

If that were the case, the exhaust system would be billowing smoke.

Have you checked your Radiator fluid to make sure there is no oil in it and visa verse? A cracked block or head could cause this.

 

Naw, sure it would smoke some, but he wouldn't be cropdusting anybody. He said it wasn't leaking and he'd be burning up coolant too if he had an internal leak like a cracked block or head.

 

lol, probably hasn't checked the coolant.

 

here we go again... just one post and then leaves.

 

During my many Prius searches, I found a black 2010 at the Iowa City, Iowa dealership (website) that was reported to have high oil consumption issues, as reported by the owner, who ultimately sold it/traded it in. I went back to the dealer website today (3/20/13) to try to find it (to get the VIN) but it's no longer listed. I did not keep my notes and this discovery was approximately 3 weeks ago.

From memory only, the story was something like this:

1) Vehicle was purchased new.
2) Vehicle had a reasonably complete service history as shown in Toyota Owners (TO) portal database.
3) Appeared to have had 5,000 mile oil change intervals in the beginning, later changed to 10,000 mile.
4) Car went in for service at approximately 103,000 miles and the TO service record indicated that technician saw no oil on the dipstick when removed/checked prior to service. (pretty sure the technician would have told the owner)
5) Same owner brought car back to same dealer approximately 5,000 - 6,000 miles later and was complaining about high oil usage.
6) Car ended up on the Iowa City dealership lot with approximately 124,000 miles and for sale.

Obviously, I have no first hand knowledge of this car... but if I was to venture a guess, I would guess that the car started using more oil as the mileage increased, to the point that it was low (off the dipstick) when driven 10,000 miles between changes and the owner never checked it.

I do not know the quantity of oil needed to raise the oil level from "bottom of dipstick" to the "full mark" on the dipstick. Anybody know? Apparently this car used at least that much in 10,000 miles.

Personally, I would not be afraid of an older 4-cylinder ICE that used a quart of oil every 3,000 - 4,000 miles. Some oil is bound to be used up as the piston rings and cylinder walls wear and the clearances widen and/or leaks in the valvetrain become evident. You might be surprised how much oil an ICE can burn before it is visibly noticed from the exhaust.

 

No, because there is a cat converter downstream. It takes more than 1qt/200 miles and dead cat to see smoke.

Well, first, when 0W20 was introduced in USA (and not much else worldwide), we were told about fuel efficiency benefits. No one said that it would decrease oil consumption or wear, and they were right about that.

Second, time to read up about the barbaric procedures of engine flush or piston soaks. They do work.

 

...I assume everyone is using synthetic oil, can always try Mobil-1 High Mileage Formula which is formulated to minimze leaks, but I am not expecting a miracle.